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Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Secret Life: What Was Left Behind

For several years now, I've had a morbid fascination with The Secret Life of the American Teenager. I am terribly addicted to this drama, as I've admitted multiple times, especially over the course of this final season. With so many characters, the series could continue story-wise, but I understand the decision to wrap things up at the end of Amy's high school career. I think that one of the major downfalls for this series is that it stopped depicting teen parenthood as difficult around the end of the second season, though Amy's desire for more freedom remained. In fact, that was so strong that it forced the final scene, where Amy heads to college in New York, leaving Ricky to care for their son. Though I shouldn't have been surprised, I was... but the main problem I had was that we weren't able to see Ben's final reaction to Amy's decisions! (surely he'd have a much bigger reaction than that boring handshake!) Sure, I could complain about how some characters' situations weren't actually resolved (where's Nora going to live? will Ethan actually keep it in his pants? is Kathy going to move to Houston?), but the huge gripe I have is how much time was devoted to flashbacks in this finale! This show didn't run long enough to require such retrospectives! But, c'est la vie.

ABCFamily

The Secret Life of the American Teenager "Caught in a Trap"(S05E23): Grace is practically registering for wedding gifts already, though she still has no intentions of actually marrying Jack. [haha!] George tells Grace to do what she wants, and just marry Jack later on if it works out. [George still isn't the greatest at giving advice, LoL.] On the flip side, Jack admits that the big reason he wanted to marry Grace was to fulfill a commitment he made to God when he was badly injured. So, that solves that and the wedding is off. [a little too easy, no?]

Brian tells Ethan that Layla called Kathy a skank. [haha. that's a term I haven't heard in YEARS!] That, combined with a comparison of himself to Ben, has Ethan starting to think that having sex with Layla may not be the best thing. [really? THAT's what gets him to reconsider?] Still, Ethan attempts to have sex with Layla while babysitting John, but Ricky is wise to his pseudo-brother and puts a stop to that. He also wants Ethan to promise not to have sex for a while yet, as sex with Amy means nothing to him because he had sex with too many girls before her. [that totally sucks. do you hear that, kids??] And, to top it off, Kathy is planning to move home to Houston because of the treatment she's receiving around town, but her dad tries to make Ethan fix that. [we don't know if he does, though.]

Now, smaller stories. Henry has joined the army, freaking out Ben and Alice. Leo congratulates his son's friend and offers him a job when he completes his service. [gotta love Leo! Henry's enthusiasm was a little much, though!] Chloe sets up her former pimp for arrest. Jack's mother gets a graduation gift for Madison, but when Jack goes to deliver it, he and his ex-girlfriend wind up making out. [seriously??!?] Amy is confronted about her e-diary, and she admits to Ben that she imagines what life would be like if she never had John. [that was a terrible fake tackle!]

The Secret Life of the American Teenager "Thank You and Goodbye"(S05E24): Grant is valedictorian, and though we don't see the graduation ceremony, we see groups of kids hugging in the hallway. Ben is still holding out hope that Amy won't marry Ricky the next day, and, later that night, she does call off the wedding. She claims that Ricky is not "in love" with her, and she wants to leave him to parent John alone. [goosebumps on the John flashbacks as
Ricky learns to be a parent.] Anne supports the idea but George doesn't.

Omar gives Adrian one last chance to come with him to New York, and she agrees to.